Don't Try Trolling Your Way to the Top of Google

Last weekend we marveled at the story of the trollish business owner who claimed that being awful to his customers helped his Google results by getting them to bash him in customer reviews. Google says you can't do this anymore.

Vitaly Borker, the proprietor of the online eyeglasses outlet DecorMyEyes.com, basically stalks and harasses his customers until they leave scathing reviews on consumer watchdog websites and message boards. This, he claimed in a New York Times article about him, boosted his rank on Google. (Although, he appears to be doing about as well as American Apparel, financially.)

So, obviously, thousands of small Internet business owners started calling up their customers in the middle of the night and threatening to throw their lawn furniture off of highway overpasses. (Not really.) But Google says in a blog post they've now made it harder for a business owner to bully their way to the top by signaling out merchants "that, in our opinion, provide an extremely poor user experience," and incorporating their spotty customer service into search results.

Too bad: This loophole would have made online shopping way more interesting. [via ReadWriteWeb, Image via Shutterstock]